Transgender Court Clerk Sues Oregon for Transition Surgery

A 41-year-old state employee in Oregon is suing the state for a hysterectomy. His name's Alec Esquivel and he's a court clerk at the Oregon Court of Appeals. It's not quite as strange as it sounds, since Esquivel was born a woman.

Lambda Legal is representing Esquivel in what is being called the first anti-discrimination case involving healthcare and transgender rights. The lawsuit they've filed claims the state is denying Esquivel medical coverage for a necessary procedure, and is thus violating a law recently passed prohibiting employers from using gender identity to deny medical coverage. And they're asking the state to foot the bill and pay Esquivel $250,000 for emotional distress.

"By not covering this procedure, the state is refusing to provide him with the same health care coverage as his co-workers," Dru Levasseur, an attorney for LL said.

As it turns out, the procedure is not yet medically necessary, but could be one day, says the lawsuit. The hormone therapy Esquivel is on could cause ovarian or uterine cancer and the hysterectomy would reduce the possibility. The procedure was denied because of the plan's “categorical exclusion of transition-related health care.”